Springing A Clyde

We all know big guys use big springs.

I've been putting off doing this for awhile.
Mounting a big spring on a shock has always been a problem for me. I'm sure it's been discussed many times before and it's NBD to the experts. I think this may be a way that will work for those who don't have a moto spring compression tool.

I used a trigger clamp, although A C-Clamp or vice probably would do as well.

Now I have not been a fan of using zip ties as I've had some that wouldn't hold snot, let alone a spring. I can only caution that you should make sure you have good ones, and use many in several places to spread the load. In the past I tried to hold too much with too few and it did not work.

I happened to have one mondo ziptie leftover but the small ones seem sufficient if done methodically. I wrapped them in sets of three, around coil pairs, then repeated it on the other side. This is a 700# spring, a bigger spring might require additional zipties.

The idea is there's six ties (3 per side) holding two windings together, and three windings are bound. This spreads the load in many ways. Also worth noting is not trying to compress the spring a whole lot but just enough to be able to force the collar on. In this case it just happened to to be all the force I could muster with the quickgrip.

I also carefully released the clamp and let the spring sit for a while to make sure the ties held. Once mounted I turned the preload collar down to the spring before snipping the ties.

To remove the spring, sit on the bike and spin down the PLC. Then add the zip ties. To make sure it's safe, carefully back off the PLc and let it sit. Needless to say never point the spring directly at yourself, or a wall, or anything you don't want struck by a large metal projectile.

Before this I used two pair of vice grips on the coils but that was on a steel spring. I didn't want to gouge up a ti spring with tool marks. Plus I've had the grips slip off YIKES! The best way is to get a motorcycle spring compression tool but I haven't been able to find one.

Now I have springs on both my Avy and my Push shocks so it's Bolt-N-Go for me, YeeeeeHAAAAAA!